Changing the copy process of DNA can kill cancer cells

According to a new study, the process of cell division not only protects the body against disease, but also helps destroy it.

The latest study uses mass spectrometry to analyze DNA replication. Mass spectrometry is a technique used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions; Use specialized equipment as mass spectrometer. Scientists were able to accurately map the flow of nucleotides - the basic units of DNA and RNA.

The team at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark also said that by modifying the chemical signals that are going on inside these cells, we can make the cancer cells weaken and disappear. The process will take place quickly and there is no interruption.

Jiri Lukas, one of the researchers, said: "Our team has discovered a mechanism that slows down DNA replication. We can see that replication processes But when the activity of ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) - the nucleotide manufacturing plant - is problematic, it will escape this rhythm, at which time the RNR plant can only provide one amount. low nucleotide ".

In other words, when the RNR enzyme does not produce enough nucleotide units, a message is sent to the chain and the DNA replication process is stopped. This plays an extremely important role when cells divide - because if in both new dividing cells, DNA information is not the same, their genetic code will be disturbed, causing disease for body.

Picture 1 of Changing the copy process of DNA can kill cancer cells
Destroy cancer by regulating DNA.(Photo: Shutterstock).

Researchers have identified a protein called PRDX2 that acts as a chemical messenger. It is the "culprit" that slows the duplication of cells and DNA. After this stop, the nucleotide production activity returns to normal. The end result of this process is that the nucleotide is fully provided to ensure that the DNA replication process takes place correctly.

This overall process has been known before, but this is the first study to actually test how nucleotides are produced, as well as cell division that regulates their speed.

But how do researchers apply this process? They took advantage of cancer cell division and replication. If we can disable chemical signals that warn cancer cells about the slowdown of the nucleotide production process, they will cause many errors and destroy themselves.

Researcher Kumar Somyajit said: "We found that the replication process of cancer cells is quite slow. Because they have an abnormal set of genes, the DNA replication process has to overcome many problems. "When we eliminate the ability of cancer cells to genome slowly, they will die because they cannot face too many errors on their DNA."

It's almost like speeding up the cancer cell production line. And at this rate - more complicated than their normal copying routine - cancer cells cannot duplicate themselves correctly.

It will take a long time for these new results-based treatments to be applied. But thanks to research, we have a better understanding of the most important biological functions in the human body. This can help us prevent future diseases and treatment.

Research has been published in Science.

Mass Spectrometry (MS) is a method of studying substances by measuring and analyzing exactly the molecular mass of the substance based on the movement of atomic ions or molecular ions in an electric field. or from certain schools.